Articles Care for Your Heirs: 7 Estate Planning Steps to Take Now

November 6, 2015

Take action now so your loved ones don't have to guess (and stress) about what to do if you become incapacitated or die. Not sure where to begin with estate
planning? Here are seven basic steps to get you started:

1. Organize financial assets. Make sure your family and/or personal representative can find your insurance policies, deeds, titles, pension
information and financial account records. For online accounts, keep a list of passwords in a safe place and let your personal representative/executor (the person
who will be responsible for carrying out your wishes) know where it is.

2. Review beneficiary designations. The accounts and policies in which you listed a beneficiary will pass to that person after you're gone.
Updating beneficiaries is especially important because these designations take precedence over your will instructions. How to get started: Review and update
beneficiaries on insurance policies, employer-sponsored retirement plans, individual retirement accounts (IRAs) and annuities.

3. Create a will. The most basic estate planning document, a will allows you to name beneficiaries, distribute personal property and, if you
have minor children, name their guardians. How to get started: Hire a lawyer to draw up your will or use will-preparation software and write it yourself. (If you
prepare a will yourself, you may want to have a lawyer review it to ensure everything is in order.) Find a lawyer in your area on the
American Academy of Estate Planning Attorneys website.

4. Consider a trust. A trust may give you more control, more flexibility, help you reach charitable goals and—depending on the type of
trust—may help save on estate taxes. Trusts can relieve heirs of the burden of managing assets. They can also spell out conditions heirs must meet before assets
are transferred to them. And, they can be an excellent way to provide for both a surviving spouse and children from a previous marriage. How to get started: Navy Federal
Financial Group provides a full array of Trust Services to help you
with estate planning, trustee services, executor services and special needs trusts. If your trust needs are more basic, Navy Federal Credit Union offers Estate Management options to help members manage and transfer assets themselves.

5. Set up a living will. A living will, also called a health care declaration or directive, allows you to specify in writing the kinds of health
care you want under certain conditions if you're unconscious, incapacitated or otherwise unable to communicate. How to get started: Each state has different forms
and requirements for setting up a living will. You may be able to obtain these forms from your health care provider or your state department on aging.

6. Designate a health care proxy. A health care proxy, also known as health care agent or medical power of attorney, enables you to authorize someone
you trust to make medical decisions on your behalf if you're not able to. How to get started: View the American Bar Association's Guide to Giving Someone a Power of Attorney for Your Health Care. You may also seek guidance from an estate-planning attorney.

7. Consider naming a financial power of attorney. This will allow a trusted individual to take care of your financial affairs should you become
incapacitated. How to get started: An estate-planning attorney can help you draft the legal forms to assign power of attorney.
Need help with next steps? Navy Federal Credit Union offers trust and estate
planning services to help ensure you're prepared. The experienced trust services professionals can help you put in place the tools you need to plan for your heirs' future.

Navy Federal Credit Union is federally Insured by NCUA. Nondeposit investment products are not federally insured, are not obligations of the credit union, are not guaranteed by the credit union or any affiliated entity, involve investment risks, including the possible loss of principal, and may be offered by an employee who serves both functions of accepting member deposits and selling nondeposit investment products.

Nondeposit investment and insurance products are offered through Navy Federal Financial Group, LLC, (NFFG), and through its subsidiaries, Navy Federal Brokerage Services, LLC (NFBS), a member of FINRA/SIPC, and Navy Federal Asset Management, LLC (NFAM), an SEC Registered Investment Advisory Firm. These products are not NCUA/NCUSIF or otherwise federally insured, are not guaranteed or obligations of the credit union, are not offered, recommended, sanctioned, or encouraged by the Federal Government, and may involve investment risk, including possible loss of principal. Products may be offered by an employee who serves both functions of accepting member deposits and selling nondeposit investment and insurance products. 1-877-221-8108.

Navy Federal Credit Union is federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration.

Nondeposit investment and insurance products are offered through Navy Federal Financial Group LLC (NFFG) and through its subsidiary, Navy Federal Brokerage Services, LLC (NFBS), a member of FINRA/SIPC and an SEC registered investment advisory firm. Brokerage and advisory products are offered through NFBS. These products are not NCUA/NCUSIF or otherwise federally insured, are not guaranteed or obligations of the credit union, are not offered, recommended, sanctioned, or encouraged by the federal government, and may involve investment risk, including possible loss of principal. Products may be offered by an employee who serves both functions of accepting member deposits and selling nondeposit investment and insurance products. 1-877-221-8108. Trust Services available through MEMBERS Trust Company. 1-855-358-7878.

Investors should carefully consider the investment objectives, risks, and charges and expenses associated with municipal fund securities before investing. This and other information about municipal fund securities is available in the issuer's official statement which can be obtained directly from the issuer, or if distributed through a broker dealer, may be obtained from a financial adviser, and should be read carefully before investing.

An investor should consider, before investing, whether the investor's or designated beneficiary's home state offers any state tax or other benefits that are only available for investments in such state's qualified tuition program.

If a municipal fund security describes one or more of their investment options as having the characteristics of a money market fund, it is important to know that an investment in the security is not insured or guaranteed by the FDIC or any other government agency (unless such guarantee is specifically provided by or on behalf of such issuer) and, if the security is held out as maintaining a stable net asset value, that although the issuer seeks to preserve the value of the investment at $1.00 per share or such other applicable fixed share price, it is possible to lose money by investing in the security.